


Free Of All Our Demons

by Nihonkikuasa211



Category: Code Black (TV)
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Past Drug Addiction, Post 1x18
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-08
Updated: 2016-04-08
Packaged: 2018-05-31 22:51:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,238
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6490456
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nihonkikuasa211/pseuds/Nihonkikuasa211
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>One day outside out Angles relaxing in the sun, Mario indirectly thinks of a specific person.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Free Of All Our Demons

_Free Of All Our Demons_

 

            Mario felt strangely content lying on the grass. The sun was shining above the trees, the rays of light filling in his eyes. The resident was lying on his back, his mind not caring of the fact that he was in a very relaxed position – not one that most people had seen him in before. His arms were raised above his shoulders, and his right leg was in a slightly bent position.

It wasn’t that often that Mario would go outside of Angels when still on a shift. Often, the dark-haired resident would go home and sleep. Sometimes he would think about the patients that he hadn’t managed to save that day, or the reality that he now lived in.

            There were many people who still didn’t believe that Mario Savetti was a doctor. It had been more than a year since he had started his residency at Angles, and yet some person that he talked to on the street always looked surprised and disbelieving when a young man with dark hair told them he was a doctor. Once, Mario would have thought he would have thrown in the towel – quit the program that was meant for cleaner people than him, and go back to who he truly was – and if not that, get truly pissed that no one seemed to think he was a doctor.

            But it didn’t matter.

            Mario sighed as he looked at the sun and his right leg straightened slightly. Perhaps it was because a year had passed, but the now-second year resident was astounded by how much had changed. How much _he_ had changed. A ghost of a smile appeared on his face. _That’s right. It’s funny. I never thought such a damn person would mean to such a screw-up like me._

_But now…_

Mario was jolted out of his thoughts by the sound of laughter. The dark-haired resident sat up, his dark eyes widening as he witnessed Angus Leighton almost doubling over in laughter.

            _Angus…_ Mario would never tell anyone of how much he had worried over the Adderall. It was easy, so easy to give up the drug at first. Then the ghosts came to haunt you until you wished you were dead and buried. How many times had the young man seen ex-addicts begging for their former drugs, a smug and deviant smile on their dealer’s face at the sight of the former arrogance? No one knew of how many track lines had covered Mario’s arms. That was because even his partners in bed had no real interest in his past, or him. The thought of his former sleeping partners caused a burn in Mario’s stomach at the thought of one in particular.

            Heather Pinkney was someone that Mario never wanted to associate with unless it was necessary. Such as if a patient was in cardiac arrest and the ER needed an extra set of hands. The dark-haired resident had almost seen red when he had found out that it was Heather who had given Angus the Adderall in the first place. It took all of his willpower to not scream at her – or worse. But now his focus was on his friend. His dark eyes observed the fellow resident carefully.

            The distant look in those blue eyes that Mario often worried that always stay haunted were gone. Instead, they were gleaming with laughter and a full smile was on Angus’ face.

            A whisper of a smile echoed across Mario’s face as he remembered of how his deepest fear was losing Angus the moment when he realized how much he needed him.

            “I never thought you would be the lying-in the sun kind of guy,” Angus finally said. The resident’s lighter hair was slightly longer than it used to be, and it amused his friend that the lighter brown hair slightly curled near his forehead. It suited him, though. Mario could only shake his head as Angus continued to laugh.

            _You are the only opinion that matters to me._

“I can’t be in Angels all the time,” Mario muttered under his breath. Angus had heard him though, and Mario could almost feel the eye-roll that his friend gave him. “It was a nice day, and I started thinking…” He hesitated.

            “About what?” Angus asked. He sat down beside the tree that Mario had been lying a couple of inches from and stared at the slightly solemn look on his friend’s face. “Mario?”

            Mario slowly sat down beside his friend. The outside of Angles was a rather interesting place. There were a couple of blue benches not far from where they were, although the tree was farther away with a small clearing. _It’s a good place if you want to go somewhere quiet,_ Mario thought to himself. The second year resident observed his concerned friend at the corner of his eye. The Angus of the past wouldn’t have been able to stare at Mario as long as he did. He would have mostly likely looked away from him, thinking words that needed to be stated. Would the Angus of the past be Mario’s friend? Probably not.

            The Angus Leighton that he had been on the first day of residency had been one that Mario knew as weak – there was too much kindness in him to survive where he grew up, and too scared of his own shadow to even shout if his life was threatened. The current Angus in front of him was still too kind, Mario thought. But there was strength in him now that Mario believed that he would defend anyone who needed help.

            And that he could trust him if his life was ever like what happened with Angus.

            The topic of what caused Angus’ addiction never came up. To Mario, the cause wasn’t truly the main issue. Being a former drug addict himself, the second year resident understood that the road to recovery was what mattered the most.

            He was just grateful Angus didn’t have to be alone during that time.

            Like it had been for him.

            Angus would tell him when he was ready.

            Until the trust and friendship that Mario had once believed he didn’t need became stronger, he was willing to simply know the fact that his friend’s existence was now drug-free.

            “When you talked me off before,” Mario stated, stretching his back against the bark’s tree, “you said something about kindred spirits.”

            Angus’ eyes widened. “Mario, I never meant –”

            “I know.” Mario interrupted before Angus continued to blame himself. “But I just started to wonder if we were that. Kindred spirits.”

            His voice fell at the sound of that term. It wasn’t almost a joke that Mario would actually care so much about that one term. When did he start caring about trivial things like that? But it was the existence of Angus Leighton that had apparently changed him.

            Mario was surprised when he felt Angus’ stare. The gaze didn’t burn. It more like…sent a warm feeling through him as he felt the kindness and gentleness.

            “After all we’ve been through, I think that should be a yes.”

            Mario gave a short laugh. He could see his friend’s warm gaze, free of whatever demons he had. It was almost as if the pasts they both had faded from their minds when they were like this.

            Alone, together. Standing side by side against a tree watching the sunlight.


End file.
